Zuckerberg and Meta investors reach settlement in $8B privacy case
The shareholders’ lawsuit alleges Facebook execs intentionally violated an FTC agreement by sharing user data with third-party apps without user consent.
Government & Policy
Reddit rolls out age verification in the UK to comply with new rules
Reddit users in the UK will have to upload their ID or a selfie to access potentially harmful content.
The votes are in: TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 Audience Choice winners revealed for roundtables and breakouts
You voted — they made it onto the TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 agenda! After reviewing hundreds of standout Call for Content submissions and opening the vote to the TechCrunch audience, we’ve locked in the top five roundtables and top five breakout sessions. Without further ado, meet the exceptional tech voices — and the sessions they’ll lead […]
UK launches £500 package to support diverse, underrepresented investors and founders
The British Business Bank, owned by the UK government, is creating a £500 million (around $674 million) economic package to help support diverse and underrepresented fund managers and founders in the country. Fifty million pounds will be set aside for female-led venture funds, which means the BBB has now committed at least £100 million (around […]
A United Nations research institute created an AI refugee avatar
A research institute connected to the United Nations has created two AI-powered avatars designed to teach people about refugee issues. 404 Media wrote about an experiment conducted by a class at the United Nations University Center for Policy Research that resulted in the creation of two AI agents or avatars — Amina, a fictional woman […]
Marc Andreessen reportedly told group chat that universities will ‘pay the price’ for DEI
Venture capitalist Marc Andreessen sharply criticized universities including Stanford and MIT, along with the National Science Foundation, in a group chat with AI scientists and Trump administration officials, according to screenshots viewed by the Washington Post.
France is investigating X over foreign interference, while a MP also criticizes Grok
France is investigating Elon Musk’s X and a member of parliament, Éric Bothorel, is criticizing Grok’s content.
Helios wants to be the AI operating system for public policy professionals
Helios, a startup aiming to build an AI-powered operating system for policy professionals, has raised $4 million in seed funding.
US appeals court blocks FTC’s ‘click-to-cancel’ rule for subscriptions
A U.S. appeals court has blocked the Federal Trade Commission’s “click-to-cancel” rule that would have required companies to make it as easy to cancel a subscription as it was to sign up.
Knox lands $6.5M to compete with Palantir in the federal compliance market
While highly sought after, federal software contracts frequently come with a hidden cost: Achieving government SaaS security compliance, known as FedRAMP, can take years and require substantial resources. Achieving this certification typically takes up to three years and costs more than $3 million, covering everything from security operations engineer salaries to security audits, according to […]